Comedy Club (2)

Sunday Evening we were out again. I can't remember the last time we were out on Saturday & Sunday evenings. The weekends seem to get busier and busier.

So to the comedy club ..
In a smaller room this time, and only 3 comedians. They all did quite long sets.

Sharon, the compare and one of the organisers get the room 'warmed up' between acts with a song and lots of encouragement to join in and be noisy

Miles Crawford
This was generally a good set, and Miles has a way of picking on people and using them for his act. The comments go back and forth, and there is lots of laughter. He uses his colour to good effect. There is a little too much leering at the women, it wasn't that funny, and the younger women in our group were uncomfortable with it.
The 'invisible pack of cards' was very funny and very well done. He manipulates the audience to think of a card (most of his act has lead to this point). Some (less than) witty person shouted out the right card, and there it is picked out of a real pack. In these situation my brain refuses to do what its told, so the 5 of Hearts would not be the answer he was looking for.

Del Strain
A Glaswegian comedian who's basic line is that Glasgow is a tough city, with hard men. Certainly true when I was there many many years ago. He is quite funny, but some of his humour is lost in his accent. I found myself translating, then laughing, and missing the next joke. He has a few props with him and makes excellent use of them.

Ricky Grover
At last one who has his own website. According to wikipedia much of what he said in his 'act' is true! Well you couldn't make it up I suppose. Ricky was a worthy headline act for the evening. His set was long and consistently funny - his life story with asides. Ricky was the only one to have to deal with heckling, and he did so mercilessly. It was one of the funniest parts of the night. I will watch out for Ricky and try to see him again, if possible. He's like a hard version of Fred Scuttle (Benny Hill). That'll be the mix of hairdresser and boxer! I appreciate people who can play the idiot intelligently and make it funny.

All of the above still need to think about their use of the F--- word. It really isnt funny, and it often detracts from what you're trying to say.

Sharon the compare splits the room in two and gets them compete for clapping, singing and general noise making. Things went a little far, with one young(ish) woman dropping her trousers and lifting her top (not at the same time). Not a pretty sight I'm sure, but I couldn't see where I was sitting - thankfully. The compare is there to keep things going and must be careful to keep the atmosphere simmering, not boiling over.

Memory

There is more and more evidence that people's memory is highly selective and unreliable. (Here and Here) So when recording my previous post I carefully copied all the information from the provided sheet. Tim suggested that the Downton Mild was in fact called "Moonraker", and that is how I remember it. It is not however what is written on the sheet. If I get the chance to go back, and if the beer is on, I will check on the barrel.

Last night we were at a 21st birthday party. The children arrived home well after we did, and we spent an hour or so in the middle of the night chatting with them. One went straight to bed and says he has no memory of last night at all. The others are telling him what happened, or at least their version of what happened - which may owe more to invention than memory!

At the party we met the lady who organises the comedy night. She had heard that I couldn't remember the name of the last comedian. She told me the names of the first one and the last one, and the ones who will be at the next comedy night. Despite standing there and repeating the names to myself to try to fix the memory, I'm sorry to say that it has gone. Rex is all I can remember. So to google. "Rex comedian" --> Rex Boyd and that's him, I remember the outline, and the face.

While discussing plans for our summer series at Christ Church, we all agreed that a memory verse would be a good idea. We have tried this before, with limited success. I cannot decide if we should choose one verse for the whole seven weeks, or one for each week. Memorising scripture is another thing that I have not succeeded at, and I have to say that aids like Bible Gateway just help me to be lazy.

Loose Goose Comedy Night @ Stock Brook (or I'm spoilt by Bill Bailey)

Having heard very good reviews of the previous Comedy Night, and having received an invite, we were looking forward to a good night out.

Many years ago, during my first Course in Christian studies, the response to a piece I had written on humour included "You can't write about humour without some jokes". Well I did, and I'm going to again.

Four comics were on the bill. I cannot remember all their names, so I won't mention the ones I can't remember. The warm up act was also the organiser, and she was singing as we arrived. Once we had settled in, found a drink from the bar, and a seat well away from the stage, we were ready for the first guy. They were all guys - don't women do comedy?

The first guy was called Simon, but I can't remember his second name. His jokes were pornographic for most of his set, and his language was extremely crude. Sadly the jokes were not that funny. One or two good laughs, but the constant repetition of sexually explicit jokes gets as boring as everything else that is endlessly repeated. Towards the end of his set he produced a banjo. He could play acceptably well, but his material didn't allow him to go beyond that. The material from then onwards was much funnier, and on balance I enjoyed his act.

Then there was a 'short' break, to ensure that bar sales were maintained.

The second guy was not a comedian. I don't recall laughing at his act at all. He was eventually asked to leave the stage. He 'suffered' significant heckling, and didn't handle that well either. The mood of the evening had changed.

Another short break - for some the temptation to get drunk was overwhelming. This was true of one table in particular.

The third guy - Brian Gittings - has the 'discovered by Ricky Gervais' tag line to live up to. As I personally find Ricky Gervais cringe-worthy rather than funny I was not expecting much. He got through his act. On another night it may have worked, but by the mood of the evening he was never going to succeed with the subtleties he was trying to display. Pretending to be bad at something to get a laugh means you have to be very good at it. Take Tommy Cooper as an example - he could do magic, he just chose not to. OK, his act was based on bad experiences of tricks going wrong, but he polished it well. He was reasonably funny, especially the scene to Gold (by Spandau Ballet) - a proper belly laugh at last.

Takings must have been down at the bar - another short break.

The fourth guy - an American - from Kansas (I think?). Well he had the headline spot for the night, but I don't get American humour. Then he called himself Uncle Rex - OK for the twenty somethings, but to someone older than him! He had been watching, and listening, he had assessed his audience - 'tough crowd' now. He also suffered much heckling from this one particular table, but he did what good comics do best - used them to get laughs. He pointed out that they had no women. Then during a joke about dating girls, he was interrupted. He restarted his story with "Well in the heterosexual world guys ..." Howls of laughter from the audience. He did some juggling - with a hammer, machete and sickle, and made Americans the subject of his humour. I really enjoyed the act. He turned the whole evening around.

I've had live comedy spoilt for me by Bill Bailey. My expectations are now so high, I'm sitting there saying 'make me laugh', and expecting to be still laughing at the last joke, as I start laughing at the next one. There are some simple things that last nights comics could learn:

• No looooong stories without a laugh in them (Ronnie Corbett stories must have Ronnie Corbett asides)
• Get the audience involved and helping early - they will feel part of it.
• Don't insult hecklers - use them - they are funny
• Rude words and swearing are only funny (a maximum of) once. - Get over them and get on with the comedy.

Now, to be fair, I have to talk value for money:

• Tickets to see Bill Bailey are EXPENSIVE, and you have to travel to London. Food and drink in the theatre is even more expensive.
• Tickets for Stock Brook are STG 8.00, and its a 10 minute drive. The bar at Stock Brook isn't the cheapest in Billericay , but ...

Will I go back - to see Bill again - definitely. To Stock Brook comedy nights - probably.